Gaza, out of the blue.

Yasmeen El Khoudary ياسمين الخضري

Monday, July 28, 2014

I was invited by CNN on July 27 to speak to the News about "Life in Gaza" amid the ongoing Israeli offensive. I accepted, and was on air at 1:40 AM Jerusalem time/6:40 PM EST time. Prepared to speak about life in Gaza, I was shocked -well, not really shocked, what else can you expect from CNN- that all the questions were about Hamas.

A couple of hours later, CNN published the interview on Youtube. But guess what? They only published about 1/4th of it, the part where the anchor starts his question by "What's life like in Gaza?" It seems that the people at the CNN News Room read the tweets that my friends and I critisized them with- they whole itnerview had nothing to do with life in Gaza. Notice that they rudely cut me off when I spoke about my Canadian friend, who's house was targeted and who survived miraculously.

Luckily, my uncle was watching the interview and had recorded it!!

Here's the complete interview,

And here's the interview that CNN wants you to see.

So much for freedom of speech.

Unfortunately, this case is but one of many incidents where international media strives to sabotage the Palestinian narrative by linking it to propaganda that they had already brainwashed their audiences with.
Mind you, Palestinians are also not given as many platforms or opportunities as Israelis, and when that is done, restrictions are imposed, as seen in this video.

Sunday, July 27, 2014

On November 21, 2012, during the second Israeli offensive on Gaza, I wrote an opinion piece for Al Jazeera "Steal what you will from the blueness of the sea and the sand of memory".

Today, I could have asked Al Jazeera to simply republish the same article, with minor changes in the family and children's names, and some new photos. Back then, we thought that what was happening was a testimony to the old history-repeats-itself concept.

Saturday, April 12, 2014

Ever since an ancient (at least 2000 years old) and extremely rare metal statue of Apollo was found in Gaza last summer, Gaza came under an unfamiliar media spotlight (albeit for scattered stories about its history). The statue, of which the discovery details remain disputed, is extremely rare, since very few statues of the time were made in metal/bronze. It is also beautifully impeccable, judging only from the few photos that were shared with the world: the statue remains 'hidden' somewhere in the Strip of Gaza.

This historic discovery was not the first in Gaza, but due to a long que of news about alleged 'terrorism' and the likes, little has been said about the city's impressive history. I will be posting a list of sources that talk about the history of Gaza from the earliest antiquity, but for now, there is one story that I would like to allude to:

In 1879, Palestinians living in Tell Ajjul (تل العجول) about 20 km south of Gaza stumbled upon a 4x1x.7 meters yellow sandstone structure, which turned out to be the largest known statue of Zeus in the world (since the destruction of "Zeus of Olympia" in 5th Century AD). The statue was seized by the Ottoman authorities that were ruling Gaza at the time and sent to Istanbul. Ever since, the statue has been displayed in the Istanbul Archaeology Museum as "Zeus of Gaza." Zeus's left arm has probably drowned in the deep sands of Gaza. We can now at least be assured that when our descendants find it, Gaza will make it to the news in positive light again.

Monday, November 26, 2012

Steal what you will from the blueness of the sea and the sand of memory

The world should start looking at our cause with its brains and not with its donations.

The millions that were "spent by different world powers on rebuilding Gaza", rehabilitating its homes, schools and hospitals, creating emergency and early recovery programmes, "have all gone to waste" [REUTERS]

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

[Note: This article was written prior to the ongoing attacks on Gaza].

While the world was busy following an election that will probably result in nothing but more negative interventions in our futures, Gaza was immersed in a long week of events and accomplishments.

People usually imagine that living in Gaza, our lives revolve around conflict and our futures are in the hands of whoever is running the Middle East. Little do they know about the unraveled potential in this city, and the magnificent history it sits upon.

That said, what else happens in Gaza and is not covered by the media? It’s the good news. Allow me to share with you a few examples of good news made in Gaza, all in just over a week.

Monday, October 15, 2012

Because this city will continue to give, and never ask for anything in return...

I'm heading to UNRWA's Rehabilitation Centre for the Visually Impaired-#Gaza to celebrate its golden jubilee. This amazing center, which runs under UNRWA, has been helping visually impaired in children enjoy life for the past 50 years. An asylum providing educational and rehabilitation services for 150 'different' kids, right in the middle of a crazy city.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Its a doubtless fact that only a marginalized minority in the world relates anything but negativity to "Gaza". But how many of the overwhelming majority remember that the people of Gaza are vulnerable to other issues faced by humanity, such as, cancer, and, more specifically, breast cancer?

Few. And its shocking because cancer is the second cause for death in the Gaza Strip. Today, there are 11,000 cancer patients in Gaza, not counting those who have not been diagnosed yet.

Women Die Waiting - Breast Cancer in the Gaza Strip

So this month, Gaza celebrated Pink October by launching an extensive awareness campaign, calling on women to get early screening and protection. The campaign also featured:

Making the largest pink ribbon in the work, ON GAZA'S BEACH!

And we did! The organization behind this amazing initiative is called the Aid and Hope Program for Cancer Patients Care. It's led by Eman Shannan, a survivor of the disease. Running on a low budget provided by several Palestinian private sector institutions, the team (75% of the staff are patients or survivors of breast cancer) made the ribbon using a 1.4 kilo long pink cloth, breaking the Guinness Record, on the beach.

Its a message to the world, and more importantly, to ourselves. Living in Gaza takes a fighter, but a fighter with cancer? A female fighter with cancer? Fighting off the disease and its provider (the occupation) with abnormal resilience, hope, and will. Israel's war machines, the #1 provider of Cancer cells in Palestine, do not only destroy buildings or human lives, they also cause slow death and prolonged suffering, embodied in cancer.

It might destroy a human body, but it would take a lot more to destroy a Palestinian soul, and it never will.